Busiest Metro Stations in the USA
Top 15 Busiest Metro Stations in the USA
Having taken metros in major metro areas around the world, I started to wonder what were the busiest metro stations in the USA. Naturally, my intuition led to major east coast cities, such as New York, Boston, and DC. Below, I’ll look at the top 20 busiest metro stations in the USA and how they compare to car ownership rates in those cities as well.
| Rank | City | System | Annual Riders | # of Vehicles per 10 Adults |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | New York City | New York City Subway | 2,758,485,000 | 2.9 |
| 2 | Washington , D.C. | Washington Metro | 271,160,000 | 4.7 |
| 3 | Chicago | Chicago 'L' | 239,100,200 | 5.5 |
| 4 | Boston | MBTA Subway (The 'T') | 174,820,200 | 4.7 |
| 5 | San Francisco | Bay Area Rapid Transit | 132,314,200 | 5.4 |
| 6 | Philadelphia | SEPTA | 96,709,400 | 4.9 |
| 7 | Manhattan, Jersey City, & Newark | Port Authority Trans-Hudson | 73,649,000 | 4.1 |
| 8 | Atlanta | MARTA Rail System | 71,504,600 | 7.1 |
| 9 | Los Angeles | Metro Rail | 48,724,700 | 7 |
| 10 | Miami | Metrorail | 21,722,100 | 5.8 |
| 11 | Baltimore | Baltimore Metro Subway | 14,555,100 | 5.5 |
| 12 | San Juan | Tren Urbano | 10,087,500 | N/A |
| 13 | Philadelphia & Southern New Jersey | PATCO Speedline | 10,0007,300 | N/A |
| 14 | Staten Island (New York City) | Staten Island Railway | 7,228,600 | N/A |
| 15 | Cleveland | RTA Rapid Transit | 6,203,200 | 6.5 |
It’s really interesting looking into this data, especially comparing the number of annual riders vs. car-ownership rates. I’m curious as to whether or not there is a correlation between the population of a city listed above and the number of riders on the metro. I would be willing to bet that the busiest metro stations in the USA all have a strong number of daily riders. Whereas other smaller cities, like Cleveland, tend to have more cars on the road.
Sources for this article included Wikipedia and Governing.com – Without them, this article would not have been possible and my curiosity would not have been peaked for this topic.
